Eagles back on the scene
Roll the tape forward to Jan. 3, 2008. What a time it will be around here.
The 16-0 Patriots will be preparing to watch NFL Wild Card Weekend on television and Bill Belichick no longer will be snapping at reporters asking about the prospect of an undefeated season (weight-loss commercial star Don Shula and some members of his 1972 Dolphins will be punished by Roger Goodell for videotaping Patriot coaches from the stands and sending the tapes the Indianapolis Colts).
The Red Sox will be taking their 2007 World Series trophy to every small town in New England and Series MVP J.D. Drew will be delivering motivational speeches ("How to overcome adversity") at middle schools in the region. We'll sit back and laugh at those silly, anxious days in late September when it looked like the Sox were going to fold.
The Celtics will be leading the NBA in winning percentage, the revived Bruins will be playoff-bound, Mitt Romney will be the Republican front-runner, the new ramp will be open on the Mass. Pike, Boston will be awarded the 2016 Olympics . . .
. . . and the 13-0 Boston College Eagles, led by Heisman Trophy winner Matt Ryan, will be playing West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
Ah, good times. Never seemed so good. So good. So good.
Snapping back to reality for a moment, we are here to tell you that the 14th-ranked BC football team defeated Army, 37-17, at The Heights yesterday, and there's a chance the Eagles could move up in the polls this week. They have a realistic shot at starting 7-0 and making the top 10.
BC hasn't been ranked in the top 10 since Tom Coughlin (whatever happened to him, anyway?) put the maroon and gold in the No. 9 spot in 1992. The Eagles haven't had a Heisman winner since a guy named Doug (whatever happened to him, anyway?) won the statue in 1984. BC hasn't been in the Orange Bowl since 1943 against Alabama, when captain Mike Holovak put Chestnut Hill on the map.
The 2007 Eagles didn't play particularly well yesterday, but held serve as they waded into the soft middle of their schedule. Ryan completed 35 of 51 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns. BC had leads of 16-0 and 29-10, but Army picked off Ryan twice (once for a TD) and made the Eagles pay for uninspired play. Oddsmakers said the Eagles were supposed to win by 27. Didn't happen.
"The first half was as sloppy as we've been all year," said first-year coach Jeff Jagodzinski. "I never want to apologize for a win, but to get where we want to be, we can't play football like that. I told our football team all week that Army wouldn't quit, and they didn't."
Even in lean years, Army is to be respected as a worthy opponent. You never know who might be lining up on the West Point side of the ball; Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley suited up for the Black Knights in 1915. But the days of Army's national football relevance are over. Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard aren't walking through that Michie Stadium door. BC hasn't lost to the Cadets since 1995, the middle of the vaunted Dan Henning era.
Two more wins are expected at The Heights the next two weekends. The Eagles entertain the University of Massachusetts Saturday (only the second time the schools have met since 1984), then play Bowling Green Oct. 6. BC's seventh game is at Notre Dame, which is never a layup, but the Eagles certainly picked a good year to renew their Catholic Super Bowl series.
It's easy to sit around and count the wins before they happen (a practice Belichick hates more than the Inside Track), but it's not a stretch to make a case for BC in mid-October being 7-0 with a top-10 ranking.
"We don't buy into that way of thinking," said Ryan, the humble QB from central casting. "I don't think we can look too far ahead."
What would 7-0 mean? Would a spotless record and a top-10 ranking make the Hub of the Universe a college football mecca on a par with Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, or State College? Of course not.
The good people at Boston College know this. They know their football and basketball teams lead the sports section and the nightly sportscast only in times of major bowl games or NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances. They know that we are a pro town and they use the Red Sox, the Patriots, and the Green Line to help lure blue-chippers to Boston.
"The older I get, the more I realize that nothing is all good and nothing is all bad," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "There's so many good things about being a little bit under the radar. We really don't think about it that much. We only think about things that we can control."
BC's schedule gets considerably tougher starting at Virginia Tech the last weekend in October. Then it's Florida State at home and trips to Maryland and Clemson, before the regular-season finale at home against the dreaded Miami Hurricanes.
The Eagles are 3-23 lifetime against Miami and have not beaten the Hurricanes since the Hail Mary was answered in what might be the most famous play in the history of college football.
BC went to the Cotton Bowl that season. And Jagodzinski has been brought on board to take them back to those heights.
The athletic director, the coach, and the players will keep telling you that all they are thinking about is the UMass game next week. That's good. That's what they should say.
Not me. I'm thinking about the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.
